Elger Esser is well-known for his painterly photographs that explore the boundaries between the two media. They are inspired by Romantic painting and photography of the 19th century and made in traditional printing techniques like the photogravure. This hand coloured black and white print, '6 Dieppe' (2007) is part of his series 'Wrecks' (2006-2009) focusing on the motive of shipwrecks handed down in art history. It is also one of the numerous pictures the artist has taken all over the French countryside, putting together his own cartography of the country, and taking up the work of Gustave Le Gray.

Elger Esser (born 1967 in Stuttgart) was a student of Bernd and Hilla Becher at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. His works have been shown in numerous exhibitions in national and international museums and reside in international collections and museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast (Dusseldorf), the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Fonds national d'art contemporain (Paris), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich), the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. The artist lives and works in Dusseldorf. #kewenig12rooms

Press release courtesy KEWENIG.